Department of Health and Social Care

Coronavirus: Pneumonia

lord alton of liverpool: To ask Her Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with (1) the National Cancer Institute Pascale Foundation, and (2) the Colli Hospital, in Italy about the resultsthose institutions saw from using Tocilizumab to treat patients with severe pneumonia linked to COVID-19.

lord bethell: The Department has not been in direct contact with the National Cancer Institute Pascale Foundation or the Colli Hospital in Italy regarding the experimental use of tocilizumab. However, the United Kingdom Therapeutics Task Force has independently assessed tocilizumab as having potential, and it is expected to begin evaluation in the UK imminently as part of the RECOVERY and REMAP-CAP studies. UK patients will be able to access tocilizumab as part of this trial. The Department will continue to monitor the results of trials of experimental therapies for COVID-19 from around the world.

Hospital Beds

lord hylton: To ask Her Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with the National Health Service about sourcing additional beds for patients, including in non-hospital settings.

lord bethell: The Government is working in partnership with the health and care sector to ensure the supply of National Health Service beds matches demand during this unprecedented global emergency. For example, community health providers and social care providers have been asked to free up community hospital and intermediate care beds that could be used flexibly. These measures together could free up to 10,000 beds.Other measures include the refitting and opening of seven Nightingale Hospitals in England in the next few weeks.This extra capacity is on top of 33,000 additional beds freed up across NHS hospitals by postponing all non-urgent elective operations, urgently discharge all hospital in-patients who are medically fit to leave and block-buying capacity in independent hospitals.